How expensive would it be to change the motherboard of my laptop and what would the process involved be
I am thinking of doing this purely for better sound quality in playback and recording.
Please see here about the motherboard: http://tinyurl.com/ooos8qu .
There is no urgent need to change the motherboard if you can now play your USB mic recordings at correct pitch. Changing the motherboard may not be easy on a notebook. You should ask Packard Bell.
Motherboard sound is never going to be as good as a new PCI sound card or USB sound card. You probably made a bad choice getting a notebook that you probably won’t be able to add a PCI sound card to and a USB mic without headphones that won’t be usable in either PCI or USB sound card. Because of those choices you will not be able to use the same device for playback and recording.
Perhaps you should do some overdub recordings - record or import a backing then record your singing against that. Do that and play to see if the beat in the tracks drifts apart over the length of a song. If the beat doesn’t drift then it may not matter that you are using different devices for playback and recording.
Remember to record with Windows Direct Sound, Exclusive Mode. 44100 Hz or 48000 Hz Project Rate should not matter. If the equipment is correct you should not be able to hear any difference between them. Record one bit of singing at 44100 Hz in one project and another bit at 48000 Hz in another project. Play one project then the other. Can you hear the difference?
Here is an interesting topic for you to read http://tinyurl.com/7byguts .
I deleted your repeat questions about sample rates and bit depths. They were just copy and paste from your first topic. Please read your first topic for the answers to those questions https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/pitch-of-voice-problem-solved/31599/1 .
Gale
I wouldn’t recommend it,. And certainly wouldn’t recommend doing it yourself unless you are very confident with taking your computer apart and you are willing to risk “killing” it. Just disassembling a laptop can be difficult. (I’ve changed motherboards in desktop systems, and I’ve built desktops from with an empty case, power supply, motherboard, PCI cards, drives, etc.)
Motherboards for laptops are not as standardized as motherboards in desktop systems. You’d probably have to find one from the same manufacturer and the same “series” of models. And, a motherboard from the same series would probably have the same soundchip, but with a faster processor, and additional peripherals, etc. If you wish, you can search the Internet to see what you can find for your computer. You can probably find instructions for dissembling your computer too.
I suggest you look for a “USB audio interface” ([u]example)[/u]).
I am thinking of doing this purely for better sound quality in playback and recording.
What are you trying to record? What’s wrong with the sound?
Playback performance is usually quite good. If you are not hearing noise, it’s unlikely that you will get any improvement. If you are getting noise, a reasonably good (maybe $20) USB soundcard usually has playback quality that’s better than human hearing.
Recording is a different story the soundcard built into a laptop is generally worthless for quality recording. Most laptops don’t have line-in, and the mic input is the wrong interface for any good performance or studio mic (it’s not just the wrong connector) and the mic preamp is often low quality. All of this is true for regular USB soundcards too.
Ok in this case, I am not going to change the motherboard. Also a usb soundcard is out of the question since it won’t connect to my usb mic.
Will a usb audio interface connect to a usb mic either - I am looking to improve quality of recording rather than playback.
And yes but I am merely trying to set a sample rate that will be of the best quality for music in my situation (I was told it depends on some factors of my setup such as hardware used, etc) The only way I can decide which sample rate is better is by exploring the Differences between the two sample rates.
Also I cannot find the answer to my bit depth questions since the last topic was closed and no answer was given to them specific questions. If your sure you gave an answer to them questions please repeat with the answer.
You were told that it was a “possibility”. At that stage we had not heard even a single sample of the problem and you had not updated the sound card drivers (which was one of the first things suggested but you would not do until a further 6 pages if needless correspondence). We still have not heard any examples of your microphone recording so we have no idea how good or bad it is and whether changing hardware or changing anything else will be of ant benefit,
You already know this, but for the benefit of any newcomers to the forum that may be reading this, that is totally untrue. Your question was answered at least 6 times by at least 3 different people. If you need to refer to the previous response you will find them here: PITCH OF VOICE PROBLEM (SOLVED)
I wasted around half an hour writing a detailed answer to your question about sample rate and bit depth. That is half an hour that I could have spent helping someone that could be bothered to read my reply.
You have wasted enough of everyone time with this.
Topic closed.